


I was Lonnie

by Jacqueline_64



Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s04e12 Pariah, Gen, Missing Scene, Not Beta Read, Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 12:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20724215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacqueline_64/pseuds/Jacqueline_64
Summary: Missing scene inspired by Pariah.





	I was Lonnie

**Author's Note:**

> After watching Pariah on DVD, the muse returned for the second time in 2 days after a 15 year absence.....

# I WAS LONNIE

The most used disclaimer:  
The TV show "Starsky and Hutch", and the characters from it  
are the property of the persons who hold the copyrights  
and other legal rights to them.  
This story is a work of fiction, written for pleasure only  
and not for profit. It is not intended, in any way,  
to infringe on these preexisting copyrights.

Jacqueline©2019-09-21

“_That’s Lonnie….. He killed Lonnie Craig!_” “_Oh God, Hutch…. He was 16 years old!_”

Two sentences that repeated themselves in his mind over and over and over.

Two sentences that hit way too close to home. Especially since he had requested the file on the teenager whom he had fatally shot. Although it was remarkably thin, mostly because the youngster had only recently taken a speedy descent into (pre-)criminal behavior, the incidents that were described had an all too familiar ring to them. He needed to unload.

With the file in hand, he walked up to his partner in the corridor.  
“Hutch, can we talk?”

A compassionate look in two ice blue eyes.  
“Sure ….. Interrogation 5 is empty…. Come on.”

They sat down on opposite sides of the simple, wooden, table in the interrogation room. Starsky shoved the thin file bearing the name and number of Lonnie Craig towards his partner.

“I got out his file, Hutch….. It’s practically empty….. First misdemeanor last year, when he was fifteen. Not even a full year …. A little over 10 months ago…… A 15-year-old who went from being suspected of smashing up a phone booth to committing an armed robbery 10 months later…..”

“Well, it’s like Dobey said, Starsk. He fell in with the wrong crowd. It happens more often than not. We have to find Tremaine and see who else that may lead to.”

The partners were silent for a long moment. Then Starsky, hesitantly, looked across the table at his partner. Hutch waited patiently, knowing Starsky needed to get something out of his system.

“Hutch…… I **was** Lonnie Craig,” Starsky sighed, heavily, before he continued,  
“Or at the very least I was on my way to becoming him. I told ya, back when we were at the academy, that I was well on my way to become a hood as a kid. And you’re right. There’s always an older kid who will take in younger ones like me or Lonnie and give them a quick fix. A quick feel good moment that will drag them down the wrong path…… I guess I was lucky that I was way younger than Lonnie, so in my case it all remained relatively innocent. And my luck was that mom got me out of there and sent me here to reset.”

Another sigh and silence, during which each partner was lost in his own thoughts for a while.

“Still, just sending me out here was not a guarantee for success.” Starsky looked at his partner, longer this time.  
“I still fell off the wagon a few times, after I got here. But at least my fortune was that John Blaine was put on my case, so by the time I was 15, I had left all that stuff behind me. But Lonnie….. he **started** at that age and went from bad to worse in 10 months!!!

Hutch knew all too well about the hard times his partner went through as a child, still was unsure about the reason for his partner’s confession.  
“At the risk of sounding too practical, I think indeed Lonnie probably never had the benefit of a figure like John to lead him back to the right path, Starsk, and that is too bad, because this whole tragedy would not have happened if he had…..”

“That’s why I need to see her….. speak to her, Hutch.” came Starsky’s response.

“See who?”

As he looked down at the table, Starsky said,  
“His mom….. Mrs. Craig.”

“Oh, Starsky…. Don’t you think…….. Isn’t it too soon after the hearing? I mean….”

“She’s already lost him, Hutch! …. For good. I know first hand what damage older kids can do plus I know first hand how gullible younger kids are to fall into that trap. If she doesn’t have any more sons this could happen to, then at least I wanna try and find out what she may know about Tremaine and possible other types he hung out with, before they do more damage to other kids!”

Starsky’s impassioned outburst touched Hutch to his core. Indeed, his partner knew – first hand – what damage could be done. And he also knew how to repair damage that had already been suffered, and still come out the other way, healed and whole.

With misty eyes he looked at his partner and softly said,  
“I know the wake is today. Let’s go, partner… Let’s do this.”


End file.
